*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 3, Issue 23 August 2, 1995 An electronically distributed digest for discussions of the issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers. Please direct submissions and questions to Kevin Madigan madigan@math.nwu.edu , editor for the months of July and August. Next issue: Wednesday, 16 August. June Editor: Emil Volcheck Emil.Volcheck@risc.uni-linz.ac.at July/August Editor: Kevin Madigan madigan@math.nwu.edu To subscribe: Contact Charles Yeomans at cyeomans@ms.uky.edu Back issues and other information are available via anonymous FTP to ftp.ms.uky.edu, in pub3/mailing.lists/ymn-list. Or connect to the YMN homepage on the WWW, the URL: http://math34.gatech.edu:8080/YMN/ymn.html The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of the administrative board or membership of the Young Mathematicians' Network. The editorial policy of this newsletter is to encourage discussion of issues, and facilitate the dissemination of information, relevant to the concerns of young mathematicians. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editor's notes 2 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editor's notes: We received no real submissions for this issue. However, we received a piece of mail from a member which I want to share with you. I also want to share part of our board's response/reaction. Letter: You might be interested in the following two situations: I received a letter from Community College of Philadelphia inviting me to interview for a position at their school. There were 2 jobs. They invited 30 people to interview. They do not pay any travel expenses. The top 4 are invited back for a second interview. Again travel expenses are not paid. I decided not to interview because 14:1 odds are very high when a plane flight and hotels would have cost at least $700 for one interview. I had earlier received a letter from Pierce College inviting me to interview for a position. The first interview would be a 15 minute lecture. The top people would be invited back to give a second lecture. Again, no travel expenses would be paid for either interview. I did not interview with this school either. I wonder if anyone else has faced situations such as mine. End of Letter Excerpts from a board member's response/reaction: I think we should consider framing the "do you pay expenses for interviewees" question as part of a larger investigation into employment opportunities at Community Colleges. This is information that maybe some of our readers could use: 1) What are the responsibilities for teaching? service? scholarship? 2) What's the compensation? 3) How is recruiting done? What do you look for? 4) Can you get tenure? 5) Basically, what does a CC prof do and how does it compare to the university model that we're used to? While we are interested in the particulars of the above two anecdotes, we are more interested in providing our readers with a picture of professional life and employment opportunities at two-year colleges. Last year I was offered an interview at a small four-year college in Iowa. If the interview resulted in a job offer, then the college would pay interview expenses only if you accepted the offer, if you declined the offer then they would pay only half of your expenses. I don't remember what the policy was if you were not offered the job. Very few people will be in a position to turn down this interview early in February even if they suspect that it is a very bad match for them, and how many grad students have an extra $400-500 laying around to waste? I hope that such practices are rare. End of response/reaction. Editor's remarks: So, how about it? Have any of you had similar experiences? Do any of you work in community colleges, and if so, can you provide information useful to our membership? _______________________________________________________________ Item #2 Closing Credits Charles Yeomans cyeomans@ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead mwwinst@pic.net Nancy Wilson nwilson@stmarys-ca.edu Emil Volcheck Emil.Volcheck@risc.uni-linz.ac.at Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu Vic Perera vicum@math.ohio-state.edu Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Kevin Madigan madigan@math.nwu.edu Leigh Lunsford lunsford@math.uah.edu Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu Silvia Heubach silvi@cinenet.net Greg Dresden dresden@fireant.ma.utexas.edu Bob Dobrow dobrow@cam.nist.gov Lyle Cochran lcochran@fresno.edu Kevin Charlwood kec1@bradley.bradley.edu Wendy Brunzie brunzie@mathfs.math.montana.edu Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@sun.scsu.ctstateu.edu _______________________________________________________________ End of Journal -- Next week: The Discussion Continues